The Ultimate How-To Guide on Planning a School Trip

Print your customisable school trip planning timeline.

When you start planning your annual school trip, the task lists and deadlines can feel overwhelming. At The Learning Adventure, we help you through the whole process – use our guide’s printable resource below as your own customisable timeline to help get you organised.

Scroll down to get your downloadable school trip planning timeline sent straight to your inbox!

school tour planning dates

9 months to go: Get the go ahead from senior management to run an educational trip.

Every school has its own procedure – you might already have clearance to run a trip or you might need to ask your manager first.

8 months to go: Get in contact with us and we will start working on an itinerary to suit your budget.

Let us know what destinations and subject you’re looking at and the budget you’re aiming for, as well as how much of a mix between culture and education you’d like. Have an idea of what kind of accommodation you’d like and whether you’d like to book flights with us (we’re ATOL protected). Then, we’ll get going putting together an initial itinerary and quote for you.

7.5 months to go: Now is the time to tweak the itinerary. Let’s get it perfect for you.

We’ll customise your trip to your subject, curriculum, budget and any other needs. Once you’ve got the initial quote and itinerary, tell us which activities you like or don’t like.  We want to get it just right and can update the itinerary as many times as necessary. We can also help with any questions relating to visas, insurance, risk assessments or packing lists.

7 months to go: Itinerary and price confirmed. It’s time to start recruiting students.

Spread the word to your students and their parents in class, assemblies, emails and letters home. Highlight the key activities and learning objectives in the itinerary, stress the educational value and give them all the important information, like prices, payment dates and sign-up deadlines.

5 months to go: Confirm how many students are coming, sign your booking contract and we will send you an invoice. Now’s also the time to collect deposits from your students.

This is the most exciting point. You know who’s joining the adventure, exactly what you’re doing and what your students will get out of it. Once you’ve signed the booking contract the trip is officially booked!

4.5 months to go: Your first deposit is now due.

We usually charge 30% of the full amount as an initial deposit. This pays for parts of the tour that need to be booked, confirmed and paid for in advance. This varies from trip to trip though so feel free to chat to us about this– we’re flexible.

3.5 months to go: You might want to start collecting the rest of the payments from your students now.

How you collect payments is up to you and your school. Sometimes, schools prefer to collect the full amount right at the beginning, others collect in two or three installments, and others collect payments from parents monthly.

3 months to go: Your second payment is now due.

This is usually another 30% of the full amount but like the first deposit, we can be flexible so get in touch to discuss this further.

1 month to go: Pay the remaining balance and get The Learning Adventure in to answer any questions from parents and students.

With just 40% left to pay, you are nearly on your way.

You might also want to ask one of our team members to come into your school for a parents’ evening. We can answer any questions that parents have face to face and ensure that everyone gets excited about their upcoming adventure.

Departure Date

This is it. You might be going on a school trip to China, Japan, South Korea, South East Asia, Italy, France or Spain, but, wherever you’re going, your students are up for The Learning Adventure of a lifetime!

For more visit our website here.